2013

Well, it's the last Sunday of 2013, so it's time to recall what has happened over the past year.

January. I returned to Provo for winter semester classes. I took historical geology, geology of planets, Old Testament, phonetics and phonology, and Early Modern English. It was really cold for a really long time, and the air was nasty. On January 24, we had freezing rain, and I unwisely decided to go brave it. I meant to go to my phonetics and phonology class, but I ended up at the dentist instead, since I slipped on the ice and landed on my teeth. One tooth was killed as it was pushed back and severed a nerve, and others were chipped. There were lots of videos of the ice, and I actually know the guy who made this one:


February. A Gospel Doctrine lesson inspired to make a silly song, which my roommate recorded. The video shows my lovely droopy eye and my gaudy Valentine tie.

On Presidents' Day, I got a root canal for my dead tooth.

March. Some friends threw a "morning mourning bash" for my tooth before I went and "helped" my cousin Jesse move into his new house. On the day before St. Patrick's Day, I went on a field trip to Spanish Fork Canyon in which we saw many things, including reptile clawmark fossils.

On St. Patrick's Day, everyone was impressed with my green outfit. On the day before Easter, I went to a funeral of an old family friend.

April. I went to a mission reunion in Draper on conference weekend. My church calling was upgraded from assistant membership clerk to THE ward clerk, which meant that from then on I've had to attend bishopric meetings and ward council. My roommates Scott and Cameron moved out, and the semester ended. There was a tarantula who owned more stuff than anyone I have ever known.

My final for my Early Modern English class consisted of writing a hymn based on scriptures, and I was pleased with mine. During my short break, I went with my parents to see a Mummies of the World exhibit. When I returned to Provo, I met my new roommate Jordan. I had my first day of spring classes, but my only class that day was the editing capstone class.

May. I had my second day of spring classes, and I finally had my structure of English class--a class in which I learned all about ambiguity, so I'm now very good at seeing ambiguity. I went to the first Rooftop Concert Series of the summer, although I don't remember much about the performers. I think I went swinging at Kiwanis Park a couple of times. Jan Terri released a new video.


June. I finished up all the work for my spring classes, and then summer term started. But I didn't take summer classes; I just increased my work hours and had a nice, relaxing summer. A few times I went and pulled up evil goathead plants, a tradition I plan to maintain. At the end of the month, I drove with my parents to California. We went to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, where we met up with my brother and his wife and my three nephews, Preston, Franklin, and Nathaniel.

On the last day of the month (my mom's birthday), we drove to their house in the Bay Area.

July. I got sick at Six Flags, which made the Fourth of July not very good. I was amused by the goodie bags my nephews got on that holiday.

On July 6, we drove all my nephews home to Utah. I went back to Provo, but I visited on weekends. Eventually it was time to take them back to California, so we drove to California again and went to Disneyland. Then we had to drive back to Utah, nephewless. The air conditioning in my apartment went out for two weeks, and my roommate Bryton moved to Mexico to work at their MTC.

August. I went to another Rooftop Concert--all by myself--but I liked Mindy Gledhill and really liked Mideau. My roommate Chad moved in, but he tends to have different hours than I do, so I don't see him much. I went with ward members up Provo Canyon to go see a meteor shower. It was cloudy at first, but eventually we saw some good ones. Then my summer ended two weeks early so I could go on geology 210. The first week we went to Little Cottonwood Canyon and made a geologic map of the area--Tintic Quartzite, Mineral Fork Tillite, Maxfield Limestone, Ophir Shale, and Alta stock were all terms we became familiar with. Then we had an unseasonably cool Monday before I headed out for the second week of 210. On that one we went to southern Utah, going to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef.

Our ward boundaries were rearranged.

September. I shaved my beard from 210 on Labor Day. My roommate Scott moved in (not the same one who had moved out) that week. I started fall classes, taking groundwater, swimming for non-swimmers, the senior course for my major (the section being about corpus linguistics), Old English, technical writing, and internship credit. We had a crazy rainstorm that flooded Provo.

I went to another Rooftop Concert by myself, but the following weekend I went to Mideau's album release--an album that is probably my favorite music purchase from 2013. I got ready for Halloween, and then the last weekend of the month I went on a cold field trip for groundwater. We went to Great Basin National Park, and it wasn't terribly interesting, although Lehman Cave was fun. The day after we got back, I turned 25.

October. On conference weekend, I went to the final Rooftop Concert, even though it wasn't on a rooftop because of the cold. It was the Lower Lights, and I always love them. I was with Kristen and Carissa, two horses. My roommate Scott got to learn all of my eccentric viewing habits, as I watched my cheesy Halloween shows. I carved a Jack jack-o-lantern, and on Halloween I went to a tri-stake Halloween party and got my face painted.

November. I got lots of clearance candy corn for Thanksgiving, and I had to share with my roommates. I lost a flash drive, but luckily I found it again. I went home for Thanksgiving, which was at our house, and I saw wild turkeys when I went running in Bountiful. There were only two movies I saw all year, and I saw both of them in November--Free Birds and Frozen. Frozen was really good; Free Birds was perfectly mediocre, but a mediocre Thanksgiving movie is better than an ordinary mediocre movie.

December. My roommate Scott loves Christmas, so I went caroling one Sunday with him and made wassail for his Christmas party. I finished up winter semester classes, doing a very nasty lab writeup for groundwater. Then I went to my cousin's wedding reception in Fillmore, and then on Christmas day I flew with my parents to California to see my nephews again. Nathaniel has been telling us about his sixteen (or "hixteeng") new houses, each with a swimming pool. 

In this picture, he is trying to push the log over.

In 2014, I am going to graduate. Hopefully that also means I'll get a real job, or I'll be in trouble. I have no idea what the year is going to be like. That's kind of a scary thought.